Reading for the Autumnal evenings

On a recent trip to Johannesburg, I met a lady who belongs to a local book club which promotes African fiction by local writers. She lent me one of the book club's books on the VERY strict understanding that I return same poste haste when next in Johannesburg (before the other book club members notice it is missing)!

Jenny Hobbs - the author from Durban

The Miracle of Crocodile Flats by Jenny Hobbs

The thread of the story is a gently humorous account of a young girl's vision of a "brown Madonna" on her way home from school in a run down, tense African township. The real story though is in Jenny Hobbs' evocation of African township living and the maturing of a (surprisingly) diverse community triggered by an unusual event.

The intricate spiders web of relationships and sheer number of characters at first feels daunting; we're still doing inroductions on page 75! On reflection though, communities are the extension of a crowd, a blend of transient and longstanding attachments, conflicts, meetings, shared experiences and conversations. The abundance of characters enabled the writer to transport me, the distant and unfamiliar reader, into the midst of the chaos, smells, cacophony  and emotions of the township. It is not necessary to remember precisely the provenance of everyone in the book (we don't always in real life after all) but just to go with the sense and feeling of the crowd.

For the chilly Autumnal evenings, this is definitely worth reading. I will hurry back to JoBurg soon to return my illicit borrowed treasure (and see what else in my friend's library looks interesting while I am there)!